


Episode 52: The Delegates Pt 2

by PitoyaPTx



Series: Clan Meso'a [52]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Clans, Mandalorian Culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23752744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitoyaPTx/pseuds/PitoyaPTx
Summary: "I would like to remind the council that I do in fact have the well being of the clan in mind." ~XotolicueIs Cara's time with the Meso'a coming to an end?
Series: Clan Meso'a [52]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1261364
Kudos: 1





	Episode 52: The Delegates Pt 2

Keep calm, just keep calm, keep calm, she said to herself over and over again as she passed row after row of tribal representatives. Only the first five rows on both sides were occupied, but that didn’t mean they were any easier to pass. Cara did what she could to keep her eyes trained forward, but deciding between Alor Yaun’s solemn expression and the judgemental stairs from the older men and women on either side was a hard choice. Cara settled on alternating between the ground and just above the ground at knee level with most people. Making things worse was that what was left of the carpet depicted gruesome scenes of combat, many featuring Jiiya being set on by the Clan’s patron animals. There were Xalaraac wrapped around the legs of bleeding Jiiya, Dunuul that looked like they were drowning Jiiya, Chochoma nipping at the heels of Jiiya, and Nagut digging their claws into the backs of Jiiya. It took everything in Cara not to vomit.  
Kuntz walked beside her with his hand on her back to keep her moving forward. She wasn’t sure why, her feet weren’t glued to the floor because they were shaking so bad the energy stored in them would have sent her flying out the large windows if she wasn’t careful. The desire to go invisible and vanish off the face of the planet was so strong she feared her face was screwed up from the effort to not do just that. It wouldn’t have worked, but the eyes on her felt like lasers burning patterns into her back. Her arms felt stiff at her sides, her fingers numb from clutching the folds of her dress which felt like a thick blanket suffocating her and impossibly itchy at the same time. When Kuntz stopped her and stepped aside, where his hand had been felt like an icy patch slowly spreading across the whole of her back. When they were kids, Dovin once dumped cold water down the back of her coveralls when her back was turned. That same feeling was now spreading across her shoulders and down into her legs. Back then it was all in good fun; right now it was tortue. The Alor, the council, the entirety of the room was all staring at her. She felt herself holding her breath, sure something terrible was going to happen. Were they going to kill her? It was an extreme thought but right now Cara couldn only think of the worst case scenario. Jecho and Aviila wouldn’t let that happen, neither would Niri. Koucitesh? Probably not, but she couldn’t speak for the others.  
“Calm, Cara,” said a soft but familiarly hoarse voice to her left.  
Baba Weiyn, her good eye trained on Cara, wrapped a calloused hand around the teen’s wrist and pried it off her skirt.  
“Calm,” she said again, taking Cara’s hand between hers.  
Cara tried to smile at her and Baba Cho seated beside her but it came out as a grimace.  
Yaun cleared his throat, “Welcome, Cara Wiltso of Tatooine,” he said, sitting forward on his elbows and clasping his hands loosely in front of him, “You have been with us for several months now, having been rescued from your hardships on the desert planet. Your family is dead, your home ransacked, but you were spared by the Ordo’ade who were also on Tatooine at the time. What would you say your relationship is to them?”  
How did he know all of that? Cara glanced at Koucitesh but the older woman wasn’t looking at her. She was the only one. Thankfully not all the looks were as ill-tempered as Palouta’s or as hard to read as Dedel’s. Naxic didn’t seem particularly bothered and neither did Doaxa or Teya. Falkit raised his head as if intrigued.  
“I,” Cara cleared her throat as the word came out more like a croak, “I considered them… friends, sir.”  
“That is what was reported to us.”  
Cara nodded awkwardly, hoping it was alright to not have a response.  
The soot-black Nautolan studied her, then sat back against his chair and gestured broadly, “What do you think about us, about our culture, our planet?”  
Weiyn’s hand tightened on Cara’s.  
“I think...I,” she glanced again at Koucitesh, “It’s...different,” she said, finally landing on something that wasn’t “violent” or “confusing” or “scary”.  
Yaun nodded, “From what I know of Tatooine, you don’t have much greenery or water to speak of, correct?”  
“...correct...sir, yes, I mean no! I mean,” she stammered, “We-we have to farm for our water.”  
A few murmurs.  
“Farm for water?” chuckled the masked woman beside Naxic, “I’ve never heard of such a thing. Tell me, little one, how does one farm for water?”  
Cara gulped, far too distracted by the ferocity of her outfit’s iconography to answer promptly. She pulled her hand away from Weiyn.  
“We um,” she gestured to the ground, “We try to..absorb it from the-from the ground and,” she gestured outward, “and the air...then...then bottle it.”  
“Then bottle it?”  
Cara nodded, “We can sell it..if it’s good water.”  
“If?”  
She nodded again, “If it’s not...it just…if it doesn’t taste good-”  
The woman cackled a high pitched, screech of a laugh, “What does it matter if it tastes good?”  
Cara’s insides squirmed, “B-because no one...would buy it if...if it doesn’t.”  
“So your family sold water for a living,” grunted Palouta, “How, then, did you get mixed up in a squabble between the Black Sun and the Ordo?”  
“They owned her family’s farm,” hissed Koucitesh, no doubt having explained this before, “The Ordo were there to take out a Black Sun enforcer.”  
“And how do we know that?”  
“Because they were observed doing so.”  
“Is this true?” asked Yaun, addressing Cara.  
She nodded, “They...saved me.”  
“From the Black Sun?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why?”  
Cara’s hands gripped the folds of her dress, “Because.. They-”  
The sound of something clattering against the floor startled her. Jecho, setting her bag against the ground, had gotten up and was walking briskly to Cara’s side. She pulled the teen close to her, then spoke to the assembly:  
“You don’t need to interrogate her,” she said firmly, “My word and your...raider’s account should be enough.”  
Palouta made to argue, but Yaun cut across him:  
“While you don’t have the authority to decide that nor speak to us in that manner,” he began, “It would be better for us to get to the point of all of this.”  
“Indeed,” said Doaxa, looking at her with a kind of motherly pity Cara wasn’t sure was genuine, “Time is not on our side.”  
“No it isn’t,” said Dedel with a yawn.  
“We should give her the news now, then?” asked Palouta, “There’s still a lot we need to know about-”  
Yaun held up a hand, “We can get that information without Cara.”  
Palouta’s lip curled into a snarl, “Fine. Get on with it, then.”  
“What news?” Cara asked, looking first to Jecho.  
“The news that we’re returning you to the Ordo,” said Yaun, spreading his hands as if dropping a gift in front of her.  
Cara blinked.  
“You’re…,” she looked up at Jecho for confirmation.  
The Twi’lek smiled weakly at her, “Yes… we’re both going.”  
“Both of us?” Cara asked, feeling elation bubble up in her stomach...until, “but...what about Aviila?”  
Several people shifted in their seats. Koucitesh winced.  
“What about her?” asked Palouta, arms crossed tightly against his chest, “How would you know of her? She’s been dead for years….right?” He looked up at Yaun expecting confirmation. The Nautolan made a beckoning gesture off to his right. All eyes followed its trajectory; the Twi’lek stepped out from the shadows and walked calmly towards Cara and Jecho, stopping just behind them and putting a hand on Cara’s shoulder.  
“Apologies to all of you,” she said, “that I did not stay dead..as you may have preferred.” 

Palouta looked murderous; Falkit, intrigued; Dedel shocked; Doaxa and Teya unaffected; Naxic, confused.  
“Kiik’in?” he whispered [Sister?].  
“Ta,” she nodded [I am].  
Cara looked from one to the other. There was something about their tone, something about the way Naxic was studying her.  
“Aviila?” Cara slipped her hand into the older warrior’s. Aviila looked down at her, leaned forward, and put her vizor to Cara’s forehead.  
“It’ll be over soon,” she whispered.  
“I don’t want to hear it,” Yaun said, stamping his fist on the holotable, “Not right now, at least.”  
“But Xoto-” Palouta protested, pointing at Aviila.  
“Not right now!” he growled, “We’ll have a special council about it but right now the safety of our people is at stake.”  
“I wouldn’t broadcast that in front of the entire planet,” Doaxa said out of the corner of her mouth, nodding at the hovering camera closest to her.  
Yaun waved dismissively, “It would be an insult to their intelligence if I wasn’t completely honest with them. They all know what’s happening, what’s coming. That’s why I chose to broadcast our meeting in its entirety,” he turned to Dedel, “because a worthy Alor hides nothing from their people.”  
The Zabrak stiffened, but nodded, “I agree,” he said slowly, meeting his son’s eyes, “Avilla and her mission will be discussed at a later date.”  
“Agreed,” said Falkit, raising a finger.  
“Agreed,” said Koucitesh.  
Palouta grumbled, but after looking around at the other members, he grunted, “Le, Alor.”  
Yaun sighed and sat back in his chair, relacing his fingers in front of him, “Let us be done with it then, if there are no more interruptions?”  
No one spoke up, but the woman in the headdress crossed one leg over the other and continued to smile hungrily.


End file.
